Piano-player.



E. T. TURNEY.

PIANO PLAYER.

APPLIOATION FILED SEPT. 22, 1911.

1,028,308, Patented June 4, 1912.

LEW/6 72707";

jz arney COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH co.. WASHINGTON. D. c.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFTQE.

EUGENE T. TURKEY, OF DAVENPORT, IOWA, ASSIG-NOB TO AMERICAN PNEUMATICACTION COMPANY, OF DAVENPORT, IOVIA, A CORPORATION OF WEST VIRGINIA.

PIANO-PLAYER.

Application filed. September 22, 1911.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June a, 1912.

Serial No. 650,826.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EUGENE T. TUnNnY, a citizen of the United States,residing at Davenport, in the county of Scott and State of Iowa, haveinvented a new and useful Improvement in Piano-Players, of which thefollowing is a specification.

My in ention relates to improvements in piano players and has specialreference to that portion of a piano player, usually termed a pneumatic,which actuates'or imparts motion to the piano action.

The object of my invention is to provide facilities whereby the movementof the pneumatic may be easily adjusted to proper relation with thepiano action from the front, and without the necessity of in any waydisturbing the rest of the mechanism, or the inconvenience and delay ofintroducing a tool into narrow and unhandy corners or passages.

I attain the above object by the construc tion illustrated in theaccompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is an elevation of a pneumatichaving my invention embodied therein, the valves beingshown in centralsection, and Fig. 2 is a plan of the adjustable arm.

Similar reference numerals refer to similar parts throughout the severalviews.

The reference numeral 1 designates the valve casing, which contains thewind chest, 2. The front of the valve casing consists of the strip 3,which is screwed to the casing by means of the screws 4. In the bottomof the casing, below the wind chest, is a diaphragm chamber, 5,separated from the wind chest by the diaphragm, 6. A passage way 7,leads from the diaphragm chamber,

5, to the wind chest, the end of which opens into the wind chest and isclosed by a piece of parchment or other suitable material, 8, in whichthere is the usual bleed hole, 9. A passage way 10, leads from thediaphragm chamber through the bottom and rear walls of the casing, 1,and connects with a tracker board (not shown). Directly above thediaphragm, the top of the casing is cutaway to the outside atmosphere,and so as to accommodate the valve seats 11 and 12. These valve seatshave punched up from their central portions the valve stem guides, 13. Avalve stem, 14:, slides in said valve stem guides, and the lower endthereof is provided with the button, 15, which comes contiguous to thediaphragm, 6. Valves, 1G and 17, are carried by said valve stem, and areso arranged thereon with respect to the valve seats, 11 and 12, thatwhen one valve is seated the other is open. A channel, 18, leadsdirectly back from between the valve seats, 11 and 12, to the rear wallof the casing to which is secured the fixed bellows member, 19. Securedto the fixed bellows member so that they hinge at their lower edges bythe bellows folds, 20, is a movable bellows member, 21. To the rear faceof the movable bellows member is secured an arm, 22, which projectsbelow the lower edge thereof.

The adjustable arm for the pneumatic is clearly shown in plan in Fig. 2,and comprises the base portions, 23, the rear corners whereof are turnedup at 24, to form strips which are tacked to the edges of the movablebellows member, 21, so as to swing about the connections therewith. Theportion of the base contiguous to the bellows is cut away to accommodatethe arm, 22. I have found it economical to bend this portion of the armdownwardly to form the projection, 25, which extends parallel with thearm 22, instead of making said projection of a separate piece ofmaterial and securing it to the arm. Extending rearwardly from the baseportion, 23, is the arm, 26, the rear end of which is concaved so as tobetter adapt it to co-act with a bracket, 27, upon a piano action, 28. Asuitable screw 29 is screwed into the arm, 22, from the front facethereof so as to extend therethrough and impinge against the projection25.

The action of the device is as follows: hen air is admitted to thechannel, 10, by a perforation in the music roll passing over an openingin the tracker board, the diaphragm 6 is forced upwardly. This raisesthe valve stem, 14, and seats the valve 17, and opens the valve 16. Theair from the bellows folds, 20, is drawn through the passage 18 into thewind chest, and the bellows is collapsed by the atmospheric pressure.This causes the inner end of the arm 26, to be swung upwardly intoengagement with the bracket, 27, and the piano action is moved. It canbe easily appreciated that in order to secure a proper coaction betweenthe arm, 26, and the piano action, a rather delicate adjustment isnecessary. It will also be perceived'that the arm 26 may be raised orlowered with respect to bellows members and the piano action by merelyturning the screw, 29, which is readily accessible from the front of theinstrument. hen the air ceases to enter the channel 10 in the valvecasing, the air in the diaphragm chamber is exhausted through the bleedhole, valve 16 seats, valve 17 opens and the bellows falls open bygravity ready for another operatien.

Having described my invention what 1 claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent, is

1. In a piano player a wind chest, a bellows placed in rear of said windchest in a substantially vertical position with its members hingedtogether at their lower edges, the lower part of said bellows beingexposed below said wind chest so as to be accessible from the front, arearwardly extending arm at the lower edge of said bellows and pivotallyattached to the movable member there of, and an adjusting device belowthe lower edge of the bellows and accessible from the front foradjusting said arm.

2. In a piano player a bellows having a vertical fixed member 19 and amovable member 21 pivoted to each other at their lower edges, an arm 26having a broad base portion 23, cut away at the center with ends 24 bentup and pivotally attached to the side edges of said movable member 21,said arm having also a downward projection 25 parallel to said movablemember, a bracket 2 fastened to the outer face of said movable meml erand passing through the cut away portion of said arm to a point adjacentto said projection, and an adjusting screw 29 screwing through saidbracket and bearing against: said projection to adjust the angle of saidarm relatively to said movable member of the bellows.

In testimony whereof I have hereuntb set my hand in the presence of twowitnesses.

EUGENE T. TURNEY.

Witnesses FRITZ BECKER, F. J. BEIER.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. C.

